Aircraft engine cooling system



Dec. ,14, 1948. .us. SAWYER AIRCRAFT ENGINE COOLING SYSTEM 5 Slyeets-Sheet 1 Filed March 29, 1943 I NTOR JAM GARNET T SAWVER ATTORNEY Dec. 14,1948. f W E 2,456,151

AIRCRAFT ENGINE COOLING SYSTEM Filed March 29,1943. Y 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 l NTOR I BY ATTORNEY I4 GARNETT SAWYER J. G. SAWYER 2,456,151

a Sheets-Shet 5 AIRCRAFT ENGINE COOLING SYSTEM Dec. 14,1948.

Filed March 29, l943 INVENTOR, 7 JAMES BARNETT SAWYER ATTORNEY FLOW COEFFICIENT Patented Dec. 14, 1948 James Gi Sawyer-, Williamsville', Y1, assi'gnon to- Curtissr-Wrightv (Dbrnoratinm. a; corpnrati'om ofDelaware Application-March 29, 1943;;Serial2'Nb; 4813059.

This invention relates to-airplanes and more particularly to cooling systems fbr airplane"- engines.-

Inorder'to make possible the-use of the new aircraft engines being developed for highaltitudes and for high power, it has'become necessary that cooling fans be provided: Ithas proved difficult to secure adequate cooling effectsfi'om suchfans, without markedly-interfering withthe aerodynamic characteristics of the airplanes involved. In addition, in all modern airplanes, particularly of a military type, it isdesirable to keepthe weight andvolumeof" all apparatus'to a minimtun, It is readily apparent that it isan intricate problem of engineering design to provide a cooling system'which will satisfy" all these requirements. to the optimum possible degree; With the' conventional arrangements hitherto employed, thecooling system-has provedto be inadequate;

It1is an objectof the present invention to'provide a coolingsystemwhich is particularly adaptable for use with'highpower and-high altitude engines, which; for; a' givenv output isiof practical weight and. constructiom,

It. is, another object of the invention to pro-- vide such a cooling system for airplane engines-- which will leave the aerodynamics-of the airplane relatively unaffected.

It is still another object: of the invention. to provide a. novel. cooling system" forxwi'ng mounted airplane engines. v

Other objects will appearhereinafter:

According to. the present: invention", an axial flow fan is provided inwhich the'spaceoccupied: by the cooling air is reduced. in.cross-se.ctional areafrom the inlet to the outlet side of the-fan; whereby a part of the total fanheadwill'be; dclivered'jfrom thef'an as kinetic energy'rather-than entire amount being. delivered from' the fan" as: staticpressure ead or. potential energyasin the case. oithe, conventional..axialflcwfans; The decreasing cross-sectional area gives" an; increas ing velocity. V and. relatively high. outlet velocity V0,, Theoutlet velocity V6 is hence greaterthan" the inlet velocity V1 and the portion ofthe'fan' head representedby kinetic, energy is2wg (Vo .Vi where w is they density of the air in. pounds: per, cubic. foot andg the gravitational.acceleration. or- 32.2.; feet. per. second per. second; The. total out? put head'of'the fan is accordingly increased without increasing its static pressure rise. This total" head or energy TH is the potential energy, PE, plus the kinetic energy. KB or in equation form,

TH PE+KE 2 The ratio-ofthe static pressure head to the tot'ail head'is k nown asthe fan rea-ctionz The fan is placed in the engine cooling directlybefore the-exit to-the-out-side'atmosphere, sothat the cooling air' is delivered'at'high; outlet" velocities: atg'a point where relatively'highveloci ties ofthe airplane with-respecttoxthe surround ing atmosphere-are.maintainedi In the .pusheri type engine. installation; the annular air; exit is". usually directly. before. thepropeller andthus the; fan can be driven directly from.thepropell'erxhuh. Inthe preferrediorrn of theinvention, the. fan.- blades themselves, haveathi'n, highly camberedi section. developed on the stream filamentitheorya and-.ln:a manner similar to-that usedtinthe steam. turbine.- The blade surfaceshavecapredominant. guiding action on the-air and-thespacebetween. the'bladesais-treatedpurely-as an air duct. C011?" travanes may be used: when: necessary; attpointsav of :entranceandexit; to line upitheair: as it-ient'ers and; leaves;;the .fan. The: pressure: coeificientr, off; such: av. fanz increases: with; the fiow andris bee tween". three and four: times; as. high. as c'an'. bei.

. developedswith.the;airfoilebladertype fan.v Any; a'dde'di. thickness. of. thezbladesa oft such: an provided largely: for" strength" rather" thanr. for-1* aerody-namicreasons. In tests' made? of such;v a; fan ona .395 scaleof a nacelleat'lw; I. TI Wright Brotherswind tunnel; pressure coefiicients 1 above" 310 were obtained and efficiences of to prevailed over a widefl'ow range from between sealeve1 and 30",000-ft. altitude conditions:- The fan output head increased with increasingflow through the" fan without any apparent stalling tendencies of the fan; The fan. input' remained about. the same atseailevel asat' altitudeandthus no adjustable" blades of fan or ofcontravanesor; variable speed" of the fan were required. It"was-: also. determined that adjustable cowl fiapscwouldi. stilllberequired. Changesiin the angle ofattack. of. the. nacell'e. had." a negligible. effect; on the. fan performance. The. total. head was. comprised; approximately-of 23% potentialenergy and.'.7!7%'j kinetic energy.v

For other objects and for; a better. understanding, of the invention, reference may, b e,had.to.t1i'e;. following: detailed description..-taken..inn connedtion with the-accompanying drawing, in'which.

Fig; 1. is; a perspectivewlew of. a. pusherv typer airplane; in flightv incorporating, the: features of; the-1. present. invention.

Fig:; 2 is: antenlargedf. elevationalipvieww takerr.-. thrcughzthe nacelle;:.secti0m.Ofrthes wing: shown inr- 11andishnwingzmoreaimdetailitherairaconduit v the engine therein, the propeller arrangement, and the cooling fan of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view, in plan section, of a modified form of cooling system according to the present invention.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged elevational view, partly in section, of the propeller fairing and of the fan blades mounted thereon, according to either of the forms shown in Figures 2 and 3.

Fig. 5 is an end View looking into the fan shown in Figure 4 from the engine side thereof.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic View illustrating the total head or energy changes at different stages of advance of the air through the air conduit.

Fig. 7 is a graph of the pressure coefiicient plotted against the flow coefficient and with the characteristic curves of a stream filament fan and a conventional axial flow fan plotted for comparison thereon.

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic illustration looking endwise at a stream filament fan provided with inlet vanes or contravanes, angled as they were when the upper curve of Fig. 7 was obtained.

Referring now to the figures and for the present, particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, there is shown an airplane l 0 of the pusher type having a central fuselage II with the usual controllable tail surfaces l2 and I3 thereon. Extending laterally from the fuselage are wings 54, each of which carry a nacelle 15 extending upwardly and downwardly from the upper and loweroutline of the Wing l4 and terminating rearwardly in a propeller fairing l6 surrounding a hub ll of a propeller IS. The nose of the nacelle projects forwardly of the forward edge of the wing and has an air conduit l9 which extends throughout the length of the nacelle to supply cooling air for an engine 20 mounted therein. This engine 2%) is located at the rear of the nacelle and is connected by means of a propeller shaft 21 to the propeller hub ll.

The air conduit I9 receives the air by Virtue of the forward motion of the airplane. Immediately upon entering the conduit, the air is diffused to the reduced velocities maintained at the engine 20. At the rearward end of the conduit I!) are located hingeable flaps 22. These flaps can be opened to any extent desired. In the conduit l9 and. attached to the fairing it, there is provided a series of fan blades 23. These blades can be secured to the fairing in any desired manner, but preferably by welding. The fairing may include a radially extending supporting bracket 24 fastened to the propeller hub l! by fastening bolts 24.

The blades 23 have considerable curvature and are so located with respect to one another as to provide spaces 25 through which air is forced to pass. The chordal length of the blades and the tip circumferential distance between the blades is. such as to be a ratio of the order of two. The velocity of air in passing the engine is considerably reduced. By means of the fan, the velocity is brought up to nearly the velocity of the airplane so thatit can be delivered from an exit portion 26 adjacent the flaps 22 without seriously destroying the aerodynamics of the airplane.

In order that the air will be delivered at this velocity, the spaces 25 are reduced in radial area from the inlet of the fan to the outlet. By virtue of this arrangement, the total head of the air delivered from the fan is mainly in the form of kinetic energy,'and the static head will have risen slightly. While in the forms of the invention illustrated'in Figures 2 and 6, inclusive, the contravanes have not been used, it shall be understood that under certain conditions or installations the same may be required, but that this will not, in any way, effect the principle being laid down by the present invention. If the inner radii at the inlet and outlet openings are respectively n and To and the tip radii at inlet and outlet openings are R1 and R0 respectively, the difference in the area at inlet and outlet will be represented by 1r(Ri Ii less 1r(Ro 1o Referring now to Fig. 3, there is shown a modified form of air conduit wherein the air is taken through air ducts 21 located at the sides of the nacelle i5 and through which air is delivered over cooling radiators 28 for delivery to the space 29 in which is disposed an engine 36 adapted to drive the propeller [8. The arrangement of the cooling fan on the airplane fairing I6 is the same as that shown on Fig. 2 and the air is discharged or exhausted at velocities approximately equalling the airplane speed.

It should now be apparent that there has been provided for airplanes, a cooling fan preferably of the stream filament type, designed to take the air from the air conduit and deliver it at high velocity to the exit of the conduit without substantially increasing the static pressure thereof, whereby the velocity of the air is brought up to a velocity approximately equal the speed of the airplane.

Referring now to Fig. 6, there is shown, diagrammatically, the energy condition of the air at different stages through the air conduit. The total energy or head is represented by a dash line, while the static pressure head is represented by the full line. The difference between the total energy head and the static energy head is the kinetic energy. It will be noted that this kinetic energy at the entrance to the air conduit, is high, gradually decreasing as the airis diffused to a location near the engine. At the same time, the kinetic energy decreases while the static energy increases. Across the engine, however, the total head is considerably reduced, the cooling effect of the air having been dissipated by the engine so that near the rear end of the engine, the total energy head is relatively low. At this location it is desired that the total head be brought up considerably to its initial amount and this is effected by means of the cooling fan located on the propeller fairing.

With the conventional arrangement hitherto employed, a considerable amount of static pressure rise was effected through the fan. The path of the static pressure rise was indicated by a dotdash line 35. -Very little kinetic energy was put into the air upon passing through the fan. With the present arrangement, the amount of kinetic energy is considerably increased and since the energy is proportional to the square of the velocity, the air upon passing through the fan may be given an increased velocity substantially equalling the airplane velocity. The velocity is kept up by the continued reduction in or nozzle effect of the exit passage 26. In conventional arrangement, a large diverging fan outlet opening is employed toreduce the static pressure rise, but without securing a corresponding increase in kinetic energy.

Referring now to Fig. 7, there is shown a relationship of the pressure CO8filCiBI1l] with respect to the flow coefficient for the two different types of fans. The pressure coefficient 1,0 is represented by the equation:

AH l 2 where MI is the difierence between total outlet head THO and total inlet head THi and u the tip velocity of a fan blade, while the flow coeiiicient s is represented by equation:

where Q is the cubic feet flow per second,N the number of revolutions of the fan per second, and D the diameter from blade tip to blade tip.

It should be apparent from this graph, that a, pressure coefficient of the order of three is obtained from the stream filament type fan, while with the conventional axial flow type fan, the pressure coefiicient is well under unity, the characteristic curves for the two types of fans being compared on the graph. The stream filament fan which was tested, had inlet guide vanes or contravanes 36 set at an angle over 50 with the horizontal flow as indicated in Fig. 8. The angle curvature for the fan blades was approximately 65 as also indicated in Fig. 8.

It should now be apparent that there has been provided a cooling arrangement particularly adapted for use in airplanes wherein the velocity of the exit air can be brought to a range equalling the velocity of the airplane and that high fan heads are obtainable while the fans are operating at relatively low propeller speeds, whereby the aerodynamics of the airplane is largely unaffected by the air leaving the air conduit.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a cooling system for an aircraft engine having heat dissipating means with surface portions to be air cooled; a casing structure for said engine providing an air passageway in which said heat dissipating means is disposed, said passageway having a forwardly directed air inlet section and an annular rearwardly directed air outlet section; a fan disposed rearwardly of said engine and drivably connected thereto, said fan having a streamlined hub portion forming the inner wall of said annular air outlet section and having blades extending from said hub portion across the annular outlet section of said passageway, said fan hub portion extending rearwardly beyond said casing structure to form a substantially streamlined continuation of the outer surface of said casing; and cowl flaps adjustably secured to said casing structure for varying the extent to which the outlet of said passageway is opened.

2. In a cooling system for an aircraft engine having a pusher type propeller drivably connected thereto and having heat dissipating means with su face po ions to be a r coo ed; a cas ng structure for said engine providing an air passageway in which said heat dissipating means is disposed, said passageway having a forwardly directed air inlet section and an annular rearwardly directed air outlet section; a fan disposed rearwardly of said engine and drivably connected thereto for rotation at the speed of said propeller, said fan having blades extending from the fan hub across said annular air outlet section with said blades having a substantially larger radial length at their leading edges than at their trailing edges; and a fairing for the hub of the propeller faired with the hub of said fan, said fairing comprising a substantially streamlined continuation of the outer surface of said casing.

3. In a cooling system for an aircraft engine having a pusher type propeller drivably connected thereto and having heat dissipating means with surface portions to be air cooled; a casing structure for said engine providing an air passageway in which said heat dissipating means is disposed, said passageway having a forwardly directed air inlet section and an annular rearwardly directed air outlet section; a fan disposed rearwardly of said engine and drivably connected thereto for rotation at the speed of said propeller, said fan having blades extending from the fan hub across said annular air outlet section with said blades each having a substantially larger radial length at their leading edges than at their trailing edges; a fairing for the hub of the propeller faired with the hub of said fan, said fairing comprising a substantially streamlined continuation of the outer surface of said casing; and cowl flaps adjustably secured to said casing structure for varying the extent to which the outlet of said passageway is opened.

JAMES G. SAWYER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,386,493 Guyot Aug. 2, 1921 1,712,622. Kruckenberg et al. May 14, 1929 1,794,844 Gienger Mar. 3, 1931 1,873,505 Stipa Aug. 23, 1932 1,881,486 Gilstrap Oct. 11, 1932 1,997,506 Adamicikas Apr. 9, 1935 2,118,052 Odor May 24, 1938 2,145,131 Rhines Jan. 24, 1939 2,169,232 Flanders Aug. 15, 1939 2,194,060 Van Vactor Mar. 19, 1940 2,219,499 Troller Oct. 29, 1940 2,330,622 Ramshorn Sept. 28, 1943 2,403,797 Hersey July 9, 1946 2,426,635 Mercier Sept. 2, 1947 

